How to Use gratuitous in a Sentence

gratuitous

adjective

• The film was criticized for its gratuitous violence.
• A local veterinary technician provides gratuitous services to the animal shelter twice a month.
• That crime is the novel’s link to the conceit of the gratuitous.
  — Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 19 Aug. 2019
• Boussy was in the right place as a gratuitous bounce put the ball right in front of her.
  — Eric Bem, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 22 Sep. 2021
• The gratuitous looks at the pectoral region is just a bonus.
  — Nick Romano, EW.com, 17 Sep. 2019
• But even among the very rich there are taboos around gratuitous spending.
  — Ashley Mears, The Economist, 26 June 2020
• Clearly, there is a lot wrong with this gratuitous claim.
  — Danielle Sinay, Glamour, 15 Nov. 2022
• Spread the gravy as one would mustard on a pastrami sandwich and the thing might get a tad gratuitous.
  — Andy Staples, SI.com, 30 June 2017
• She's not put in in a gratuitous way or throwaway moment.
  — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 17 Dec. 2019
• Taking away someone’s right to vote on top of that just seems gratuitous.
  — Danielle Allen, Harper's Magazine, 27 Oct. 2020
• Lawrence is doing his best to take it all in stride, but some hurdles can seem gratuitous.
  — Lily Hay Newman, Wired, 15 Sep. 2020
• To me, that kind of gratuitous violence sends a very strange message.
  — Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2019
• The show is bloody and has lots of fights (with weapons, fists and special powers) but avoids gratuitous gore.
  — Common Sense Media, Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2023
• Far from being gratuitous, such scenes are, in the author’s telling, the whole point of the novel.
  — Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2022
• All that pregame chatter about his standout camp seemed like gratuitous fluff.
  — Chris Fedor, cleveland, 13 Dec. 2020
• For the survivors, the thought that the killings are entirely gratuitous is unbearable.
  — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
• The culprit, more often than not: a gratuitous amount of pitching changes.
  — Dennis Lin, sandiegouniontribune.com, 13 Sep. 2017
• In the first six episodes, three gratuitous birth scenes included two that ended in the death of both mother and baby.
  — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2022
• There basically isn’t a scene in any of your movies that isn’t gratuitous.
  — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2023
• There's no room for gratuitous kindness at the Olympics, Bruno.
  — Justin Kirkland, Esquire, 13 Feb. 2018
• Or, is this something that just feels gratuitous or salacious?
  — Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Mar. 2023
• Something had to be wrong; childbirth could not be this gratuitous and cruel.
  — Seija Rankin, EW.com, 7 Oct. 2020
• Of course, the loosening of self-censorship also led to a whole lot of gratuitous junk.
  — The Mercury News, 24 May 2017
• To call them meetings seemed gratuitous, but Nella wasn't in the mood to go down that slippery slope.
  — Rachel Epstein, Marie Claire, 1 June 2021
• Okay that last line was just a gratuitous joke, not real journalism.
  — Doug MacCash, NOLA.com, 27 Aug. 2017
• But there are plenty of thrilling movies filled with gratuitous violence on the streaming service.
  — Jacob Siegal, BGR, 30 Dec. 2021
• The staff at Dai Due know this feeling, which is why their burger rests on a gratuitous serving of the stuff.
  — Oset Babur, GQ, 22 Oct. 2017
• Where the documentary falls flat is in its gratuitous use of footage of recent police murders.
  — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 June 2022
• The emails also include a seemingly gratuitous use by Barber of the n-word.
  — Matt Hamilton and Harriet Ryan, Anchorage Daily News, 9 June 2023
• So anything that fell outside of that focus felt a little gratuitous and tonally off.
  — Addie Morfoot, Variety, 28 Dec. 2021

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2024